Welcome back to the LiverKick.com rankings. These rankings are an attempt to break down the top 10 fighters in four different weight classes - Heavyweight, for fighters above the 85kg limit, Middleweight, for fighters at the 70-72.5kg limit, and Lightweight, for fighters at the 60-63.5kg limit. Our rankings are based on in-ring accomplishments and recent wins and losses. We hope they reflect where these fighters currently stand, although we recognize that all rankings are inherently subjective. Rankings are compiled by Rian Scalia and Dave Walsh.

December 2012

Note that these are kickboxing rankings and do not incorporate Muay Thai in any way. All criteria used to rank these fighters is from kickboxing matches only.

One thing about December's middleweight rankings hasn't changed, and that's that Giorgio Petrosyan remains in the #1 spot. He comes off winning the GLORY 3 Rome Final 8 tournament, which included beating the at the time #2 ranked Robin van Roosmalen in the final. Someone is going to have to beat Petrosyan to take his spot.

Jumping all the way from being unranked to the #2 spot is Murthel Groenhart, due to his tournament win at the K-1 MAX Final 8. In it, he defeated previously #10 ranked Mike Zambidis and previously #3 ranked Artur Kyshenko. Murthel's win over Kyshenko also came right after Kyshenko beat previously #4 ranked Andy Souwer, so he definitely had some strong and ranked wins.

With the addition of Murthel Groenhart, most of the rankings stay the same for the most part, except that everyone shifts down one spot, making previously #10 ranked Mike Zambidis drop off. Robin van Roosmalen comes in at #3, with Artur Kyshenko right behind him at #4. The reason Robin still stays above Kyshenko is that ultimately, Robin beat Kyshenko last year and that can't be overlooked, since out rankings take into account the current year and the year before.

At #5 is Andy Souwer, who still managed to get a good win over previously #7 ranked Andy Ristie. Hafid El Boustati fills in at #6, riding the coat tails of that cut stoppage of Robin van Roosmalen, while Davit Kiria fills in the #7 spot, taking into account his win over Shemsi Beqiri.

Andy Ristie is still riding the win over an at the time ranked Hinata in January and fills in at #8. Shemsi Beqiri is right behind him at #9. Taking the #10 spot is Batu Khasikov, who again is riding on his wins over Albert Kraus and Mike Zambidis last year, but he's going to have to get a good win pretty soon or he could likely get dropped.